Chu Culture (A Mysterious and Romantic Southern Great Nation)

Author: Compiled by: Shu Zhimei, Zhang Xuqiu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-12-01
Features:
1) Rites and Ceremonies – Dining utensils and the ritual of the ding (a type of ancient vessel) are the norms for all behaviors. The content of rites is extensive, encompassing rites for adulthood, marriage, funerals, and sacrifices, among others, which cannot all be elaborated upon here. What we can now specifically see as manifestations of the ritual system are the dining utensils used in ritual music performances. The saying "Food is the first necessity of the people" implies that dining behavior also becomes a ritual to express rites. Aspects such as the source, type, quantity, cooking methods, arrangement and decoration of dining utensils all become matters of concern. The Zhou Li records that among those responsible for the emperor's daily life, most were in charge of arranging meals according to status and age, determining the quantity of dishes. For example: "The Son of Heaven uses twelve dou and six li, feudal lords use sixteen, feudal vassals use twelve, high ministers use eight, and low ministers use six" (The Rites of Zhou); at the age of sixty, three dou; at seventy, four dou; at eighty, five dou; and at ninety, six dou (The Rites of the Village Drinking). These regulations were also applied in sacrificial, marriage, and funeral ceremonies, becoming a visual representation of "ritual." The ritual system of the Chu people followed this tradition of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, using the types, quantities, quality, and combinations of dining utensils and musical instruments to reflect the social status of each. The Zhou people's ritual vessels centered around the ding, using the number of dings and the combination of utensils to indicate status. For example, feudal lords used nine dings and eight gui, high ministers used seven dings, low ministers used five dings, and scholars used three dings (there is also the theory of the Son of Heaven using nine dings, but according to The Rites of Zhou, this is followed). Archaeological evidence shows that the Chu people generally adhered to this rule. Whether in the tombs of kings and high officials from the middle to late Spring and Autumn period to the late Warring States period, they strictly followed the prescribed number of bronze dings and gui according to Zhou standards. In terms of the combination of utensils, until the early Spring and Autumn period, the Chu people still strictly followed the combination of bronze dings and gui as prescribed by the Zhou, and the style of the utensils was also similar to that of the Central Plains. By the Warring States period, the combination of Chu ritual utensils was basically composed of meat containers (dings), food containers (gui, lan, dou), wine containers (hu, fou), and washing utensils (pan, yi, can). The only slight difference from the Central Plains was in the evolution sequence of food containers, where the Central Plains followed the sequence of gui-dou-dun, while the Chu followed lan-dun-he. The dou was a vessel for holding meat and seasonings, while the gui and lan were vessels for holding rice. Additionally, the Chu people placed great importance on washing utensils. In the prosperous state of eating rice and fish, the Chu people replaced the gui of the Central Plains with the lan in the combination of ritual utensils, which was a change in shape rather than function. As for the combination of ding-lan-hu and ding-dun-hu, it seems that due to the Chu people's emphasis on stimulants—wine—the wine containers never disappeared from the combination of utensils, remaining stable and diverse in form. Moreover, the wine containers were meticulously crafted and varied in design. Beyond drinking, the Chu people's dishes also had distinctive characteristics. The traditional diet of the Central Plains has always considered meat as a luxury, as reflected in the sayings "Those who eat meat are barbaric" and "Even if there is plenty of meat, it should not surpass the air of food," both showing restraint in consuming meat. The fact that the Chu people still used pottery and lacquer dou as ritual utensils also suggests that while adhering to tradition and not abandoning the enjoyment of meat, they also adapted to nature. Lacquerware from Chu was an important part of Chinese lacquer art, especially the lacquerware of the Chu state during the Warring States period, which can reflect the artistic characteristics of Chu culture. Over the past few decades, the discovery of thousands of Warring States Chu tombs has unearthed a large number of lacquerware, not only deepening our understanding of Chu lacquer art but also...